No-LAN for sc2

[Gifted]

Internet may be more widespread than in 1998, but we still have a long way to go before we can just assume that everyone has readily accessible high-speed internet.

I think that in blizzard's case they can assume that there is readily accessible INTERNET. It's not confirmed that high speed is required so we can always assume modem speed is an option (but unlikely due to the removal of LAN shows a forward thinking angle)

Only hardcore fanboys are going to go through the trouble to purchase high-speed internet just so they play multiplayer with other people in their own damn house!

Actually, the majority of people I know with internet have a source of speed that's acceptable for starcraft. You don't need the best of the best connection to play it, in theory it could be played on modem which would extend the ability further to those outside of the primary speed grouping. They also have entire game communities they are pulling into b.net. You have 12 million players who will be REQUIRED to register into battle.net. I'm sure a very large chunk of them will be buying SC2 and not even look at any of it's forums and Blizzard already knows that each and every one of them has an able internet connection, otherwise they couldn't play wow.

Blizzard needs to realize that most people who don't play Bnet do so because Bnet isn't all that great. If they want more people to play Bnet, then all they have to do is make it as fun as possible. Taking away our alternatives in order to shove it down our throats will only piss people off.

I believe that improving battle.net to a new level is their intent. They've taken genres and reinvented them to a point of exceeding expectations... There is nothing against the possibility of taking successes like steam and xbox live and bringing their technology to the next level.

Despite the conversation, it's still too early to talk about this subject as everything we bring up is PURELY opinion and based on very little factual data. All we have confirmed is LAN is out, something will replace it of higher technological value and Rob Pardo confirmed it's for "Quality Multiplayer expirience, reducing piracy and more" which is obvious.

We will have facts when battle.net 2.0 is released, I'll return to this thread when that happens.

[Pick]

I don't think this has anything to do with piracy.

My guess about their motivation behind no LAN play is that they don’t think they are making a game, they think they are making an “e-sport”.

South Korea has turned SC1 into a huge event on TV. What does Blizzard get out of that? They can have a televised event with sponsors, commercials, selling tickets to a live crowd of thousands of people, but as far as I know, Blizzard is not involved at all and does not see a penny beyond selling the original game.

Having everything on B.Net is going to put Blizzard in control. You want to put a game on their servers on TV? I bet they get a piece of the action now.

From our point of view: 3 guys in the same room can’t play a LAN game.

From Blizzard’s point of view: they want to be involved if you have 3000 people in the same room.

[Mercatosis]

If you look at games like MMOs (while the are completely different games -- more specifically WoW), they require internet access for all the game's content. Entire families play that game.

I understand that there was people without internet, but you have to realize that those people are far and few between. Sorry for those that get screwed over by this, but this is blizzard just protecting their software (i find it ironic that they're using a free service to protect their software).

I highly doubt that the connection to battle.net will have any effect on the latency of the players in a game if they're on a LAN with you. I agree that this would be a foolish move on blizzard's part if they decided to force latency in games, but I doubt that that will be the case. It doesn't seem like blizzard would really like to shoot themselves in the foot.

I don't think this has anything to do with piracy.

My guess about their motivation behind no LAN play is that they don’t think they are making a game, they think they are making an “e-sport”.

South Korea has turned SC1 into a huge event on TV. What does Blizzard get out of that? They can have a televised event with sponsors, commercials, selling tickets to a live crowd of thousands of people, but as far as I know, Blizzard is not involved at all and does not see a penny beyond selling the original game.

Having everything on B.Net is going to put Blizzard in control. You want to put a game on their servers on TV? I bet they get a piece of the action now.

From our point of view: 3 guys in the same room can’t play a LAN game.

From Blizzard’s point of view: they want to be involved if you have 3000 people in the same room.

Blizzard has recently become involved in the WoW, WC3, and SC scenes through the Korean company, GOMTV. While you could be right, can you really blame them for such a thing? By creating a game, they have first hand access to entire industry of entertainment that could rise from it. If they decide to harness that industry and take control of it (considering no one else in the US has) then I happily welcome it. Bring me games of professional starcraft, warcraft, and WoW. No one else in America's willing to.

If blizzard were to do something that allowed them to broadcast e-sports, would you really be that opposed to it?

[Pick]

If blizzard were to do something that allowed them to broadcast e-sports, would you really be that opposed to it?

If my post sounded negative, I didn't mean it to be. I agree that Blizzard should benefit financially from e-sports above and beyond simply sellling the game.

I want a Battle.Net with lots of amazing features that is free for the average joe like me because they make all their cash from e-sports.

[Aldrius]

Eh. This change is really just something that's become the norm across all gaming...

You can't play with somebody in the same room as you anymore. Even on console games it's becoming rarer, just so that you can play with 20 people over the internet... and damn... if I don't find it utterly ridiculous.

[Nicol Bolas]

You can't play with somebody in the same room as you anymore.

Yes, you can! You just have to do it over B.Net. Odds are, B.Net won't make this particularly difficult. You make a game, lock it, invite your friends and poof: you're playing a game next to you.

Even on console games it's becoming rarer, just so that you can play with 20 people over the internet...

Do you know how much effort split-screen takes to implement?

[Pandonetho]

It's also annoying when you don't have a 60' TV to split the screen with 3 other players.

[Edfishy]

In order for Battle.net to connect you to your "friend" in the same room with you, it will still have to use an IPX or UDP connection using your network hub's local IP (usually 192.168.0.#) instead of connecting to your internet's IP (usually a bunch of random numbers).

StarCraft 2 would have to check for games hosted on their Battle.net servers as well as games hosted across your local network and connect through the appropriately.

Otherwise, you and your friend (who are playing in the same room) will be playing with the lag of both computers sending out an internet signal all the way out to Blizzard's servers and back again. Which, of course would be ridiculous if you're wired side-by-side, you know?

Likely (must be confirmed first) even if you are not connected to the internet you'll still be able to see local games hosted on your network (as Company of Heroes does).

[Gradius]

Found something: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...ot-Support-LAN

According to Pardo, the choice to exclude LAN games "is because of the planned technology to be incorporated into Battle.net," which will be revealed at a later date.

[Nicol Bolas]

StarCraft 2 would have to check for games hosted on their Battle.net servers as well as games hosted across your local network and connect through the appropriately.

It depends on how they implement it in B.net. If all you need to do is create a game and send your friend an invite, then it doesn't have to do any of that.

Otherwise, you and your friend (who are playing in the same room) will be playing with the lag of both computers sending out an internet signal all the way out to Blizzard's servers and back again.

StarCraft's internet is peer-to-peer (or, if it's client-server, the hosting machine is the server). There is no sending out to B.Net while you're playing (unless it's fetching some statistics information). This is why B.Net has remained free; it's just a matchmaking service. It's cheap.